Emma Watson’s Best Actor win at MTV’s first-ever ‘gender neutral’ awards rings alarm Belles
EMMA WATSON has been named Best Actor at MTV’s first ever “gender neutral” awards.
Whoa. Stop right there. This is getting beyond laughable now.
I mean, Emma’s a lovely young woman and by all accounts pretty brainy too. And I’m assured that her performance as Belle in that, er, thought-provoking opus known as Beauty and the Beast is perfectly passable.
But best actor in a field that includes Emma Stone, Tom Hardy, Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks? That’s Oscar-winning nonsense.
What’s really happening here, of course, is that MTV is aimed at “the yoof”, Emma is, apparently, a “yoof icon” and someone at MTV thought, “hey, we can garner some headlines here”.
Emma played the game beautifully, reading from the autocue that the award was “very meaningful to me . . .” Yada yada yada.
She added: “To me, it indicates that acting is about the ability to put yourself in someone else’s shoes. And that doesn’t need to be separated into two different categories.”
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Hmmmm. Trouble is, the shoes Emma occupied in her latest role were the dainty heels of Disneyfied princess Belle, from Beauty and the Beast which, with the best politically correct will in the world, isn’t going to be played by Jason Statham any time soon.
So rather than “meaningful”, what this actually amounts to is little more than a PR stunt that does nothing to advance the cause of gender neutrality in an industry where leading non-princess roles for women are still in woefully short supply.
Recently, I watched the movie Miss Sloane (out in the UK this week) in which Jessica Chastain plays the truly gender-neutral lead role of a ruthless political lobbyist.
But it remains one of the exceptions to the long-standing Hollywood rule that seriously talented women are still reduced to the slim pickings of being the main attraction’s lover, daughter, wife or mother. And it’s not much better behind the scenes either.
Meanwhile, believe it or not, the British Press Awards — known as the “Oscars” of journalism — has always been gender-neutral.
This year’s winner of the treasured, crystal-cut Best Columnist award was a man, Peter Oborne, and yours truly took home a certificate saying Highly Commended — i.e runner up.
Had there been a best female columnist category, that crystal-cut accolade might now be in my downstairs loo, but no thanks. I’d rather win it on journalism’s gender-neutral playing field.
But the movie industry is another story, where the role of, say, Henry the Eighth being pitted against Regarding Henry’s supportive wife will simply mean fewer women getting awards.
And then, even if they do win it on merit, the inevitable mutterings that they only got it because it’s a gender-neutral award and there are quotas at play.
No, the industry needs to change from within first, then the concept of a gender-neutral acting award will, like journalism, be commonplace rather than headline-grabbing.
ANGELINA KNEW HIS PITT FALLS
BRAD PITT says his heavy drinking and frequent use of marijuana is what destroyed his marriage to Angelina Jolie.
Brad, who has now given up both vices, says: “I can’t remember a day since I got out of college when I wasn’t boozing or had a spliff, or something.”
In other words, Angelina knew perfectly well what his habits were when she stood at an altar and declared “for better or worse” but clearly, now the lust has worn off, so has her tolerance.
Cornrow row is splitting hairs
KATE MOSS’ 14-year-old daughter Lila Grace has become the face of The Braid Bar.
For those in blissful ignorance, TBB is a Mecca for teenage girls, an altar at which they pray they had a mother who, unlike useless old me, could actually do something more with their hair than scrape it in to a messy ponytail.
The move is slightly at odds with Kate’s hitherto fierce protection of her daughter’s privacy, but at least Lila Grace looks her age and makes no attempt to hide her braces.
Her braids, however, are another story.
Recently, actress Alice Eve posted a photo of her hair in cornrows and was criticised for “cultural appropriation,” and The Braid Bar has been accused of the same thing.
“If you wanna do black hairstyles, use black models,” said one, despite there being plenty of black models on the company’s website.
Even Teen Vogue got in on the act, stating that the hairstyle was “created and worn exclusively by black women and men for centuries”.
But surely a hairstyle doesn’t “belong” to one culture?
The Vikings had dreadlocks, but no one says that Rastafarians have culturally appropriated the look.
And besides, I don’t recall anyone screaming about cultural appropriation when Bo Derek ran slo-mo in cornrows along the beach in the 1979 movie 10.
But then again, taking offence wasn’t a full-time job back then.
INSULT TO HEROES
GANG members in London are reportedly using guns from the First and Second World Wars to kill each other because they are unlicensed and therefore hard to trace.
So. Weapons brandished by heroes in the fight for freedom are now being used by yobs protecting their drugs cache.
What a sad indictment on modern Britain.
Not a time to brag
ANOTHER day, another footballer behaving badly off the pitch.
This time it’s Brighton and Republic of Ireland player Shane Duffy, who ended up in bed with single mother Daniella Francesca despite having a girlfriend and two children.
How do we know of this indiscretion?
Because while Shane was in the land of nod, Daniella positioned herself alongside him and took a photo – posting it on social media with the caption: “When Shane Duffy just doesn’t want to go home.” As you do.
Daniella, who deleted the post after Shane’s furious girlfriend Catherine Carlin contacted her, says she had no idea he had “this secret family”.
Er, not that secret. It took me all of ten seconds on Google to find mention of Catherine as far back as 2013.
But I digress.
Shane is the real villain of the piece, as he’s the one abusing his girl-friend’s trust.
But call me old-fashioned, is it now the norm for young women to brag online about a one-night stand with a man they know virtually nothing about?
OBAMA'S TELLING LEGACY
A NEW biography of Barack Obama suggests he continued to see former lover Sheila Jager after he started a relationship with Michelle, who later became his wife.
The book says Obama harboured presidential ambitions from a young age, and told a friend . . . “if I am going out with a white woman, I have no standing here”, referring to Chicago where, according to author David Garrow, he was “shaking off his middle-class, white upbringing”.
Garrow concludes that Obama worked very hard to craft an image that would get him elected, but “the vessel was hollow at its core”.
Which might explain why, sadly, decent man though he undoubtedly was, the 44th President of the United States’ legacy can be summed up in just two words.
Donald Trump.
Onwards and upwards for Harry
WHATEVER dark thoughts Prince Harry has suffered from in recent years it’s clear that, right now, he’s a very happy bunny indeed.
I was lucky enough to be invited to the charitable Audi Polo Challenge on Sunday and saw both of the princes at close hand.
While William looked socially awkward, his brother laughed and joked with everyone before rushing off to share a furtive (or so he thought) kiss in the car park with girlfriend Meghan Markle.
Harry, one suspects, is very like his mother, an effortless socialiser who wears his heart on his sleeve and whose mood fluctuates.
Whereas William is more old-school royal, less effervescent, certainly, but also more constant and predictable.
But perhaps that’s no bad thing when you’re in line to be king.
MOORE TO THINK ABOUT
- CERTAIN non-soccer fans are celebrating the “end of the football season”.
Poor, deluded souls. Little do they know that, with various championship mat- ches, internationals and friendlies, there is no end.
Football isn’t just for the season, it’s for life. - THE Duchess of Cornwall has revealed she was nicknamed “The Growler” at school. One can only hope it’s because she had a husky voice and not anything to do with the slang meaning of the word.